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core Flight System (cFS)

  • Software
  • Middleware
  • Framework

NASA's open-source core Flight System bundle, a generic flight software framework with demo apps that builds, runs and exchanges telemetry and commands with a ground system.

Made by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, United States (checked on github.com/nasa (opens in a new tab)).

Source on GitHub: github.com/nasa/cFS (opens in a new tab). Facts read at commit 3ce9b27 (opens in a new tab).

Licenses

Code
Apache-2.0 (opens in a new tab)

Read by Robotheca from LICENSE (opens in a new tab) (Apache-2.0) at commit 3ce9b27 (opens in a new tab), on 16 Oct 2026.

Commercial use
Yes

What it does

  • Bundles the cFE framework, OSAL and PSP with demo apps, intended as a starting point rather than a flight-ready distribution.
  • Builds through Make and CMake with native Linux configurations and cross-compiled targets for RTEMS, VxWorks, Raspberry Pi and Yocto Linux.
  • Boots the core on a Linux host from the staged build directory, showing startup messages and an operational state.
  • Sends commands and receives telemetry through the cFS-GroundSystem tool, which needs PyQt5 and PyZMQ.
  • New applications are added by following the cFE Application Developer's Guide and registering them in targets.cmake and a scr file.
  • A mission-ready government version is available separately through a Software User Agreement.

Written by Robotheca from the project's README (opens in a new tab) at commit 3ce9b27.

Getting started

Difficulty
Advanced
Hardware it needs, as the project states it
Make, CMake, GCC and Git on a Linux host for the default native build; cross-compiled targets also need their respective toolchains, and some run in QEMU or on Raspberry Pi.

Maintenance

Status
Active: a commit in the last 90 days
Newest commit
15 Oct 2026 on dev
Latest release
cFS Bundle - v7.0.1 (14 May 2026)

Checked on GitHub on 16 Oct 2026.

Links

Robots on Robotheca that use it

No robot on Robotheca is linked to it yet. Links come from a robot's robot.yaml, from its dependency files read as text, or from Robotheca's editors.

Robotheca lists software as a reference: nothing is hosted or run here, and every fact links to where it was read.